Todd Shanesy: Ben Boulware takes one for the team, again

Ben Boulware was exactly what you’d expect from a college football player on such a big stage with the spotlight shining particularly bright on him.

The Clemson linebacker was calm, composed, straightforward and politically correct at media day Saturday morning in advance of Monday night’s national championship game against Alabama at Raymond James Stadium.

That is to say he was not himself.

He was boring.

With him being one of only three Clemson players with a special elevated stage for the 60-minute session, cameras and tape recorders rolling in anticipation, this should have been the Ben Boulware Hour. The former T.L. Hanna High School standout was made for this moment. His humor and his honesty, also his love for attention, should have been unleashed.

But it was not.

In fact, if he had shaved off that bushy beard, nobody would have believed it was even Boulware.

He took one for the team again.

That’s exactly what he did earlier this week when he attempted to deflect criticism and indeed public ridicule of teammate Christian Wilkins after cameras caught him grabbing an Ohio State player inappropriately during the semifinal game. It was unfortunate for Wilkins, who might be the nicest guy in the world. But if you Google his name now, the top stories are not about his talent, his character, his love for children or anything like that. It’s about his groping.

Wilkins apologized, head coach Dabo Swinney apologized and that should have been the end of it, so to speak. But Boulware, in his own unique way, decided he would step in front of any additional darts thrown at Wilkins.

Boulware said, heck, he does the same thing Wilkins did. A lot of guys do that. It’s just to mess with the other team. It’s just to annoy the opposing players. But Boulware, as did Wilkins, went a little too far. There was too much description. There were things said that didn’t appear in family newspapers. There was even the red-flag phrase “sexual assault.”

Well, one thing happened. Wilkins was no longer on an elevated stage of controversy. That belonged to Boulware.

And on Saturday morning, as Wilkins, off to the side, seemed relieved to answer question after question not about groping or grabbing, he could thank Boulware. Even if the original situation was actually made worse by Boulware, it was no longer so much about Wilkins and he appreciated what his teammate was trying to do.

“Ben says what he says and he does what he does,” Wilkins said. “That’s why we love him. That’s my big brother. He was just trying to look out for me.”

It was obvious before vague confirmation that Boulware’s comments from earlier in the week were not OK with Swinney, and likely others at the university as well. They were not going to take away the well-deserved stage for the senior leader. They were not going to silence him altogether. But he was definitely filtered.